Russia in Review, Jan. 11-18, 2019
This Week’s Highlights:
- When unveiling the new Missile Defense Review (MDR), U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington’s goal is “to ensure we can detect and destroy any missile launched against us, anywhere, anytime, anyplace.” However, this is inconsistent with the MDR’s description of missile defense being directed solely against “rogue states,” according to Federation of American Scientists experts.
- The INF Treaty is all but dead: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the U.S. had ignored Moscow’s proposals to allow inspections of the 9M729 missile, according to Reuters. However, U.S. Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson said Moscow only offered a look at, not an opportunity to examine, the cruise missile system. Without a deal, a U.S. withdrawal from the treaty over six months will start Feb. 2, RFE/RL reports.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for German experts to monitor the Kerch Strait near Crimea, Reuters reports.
- U.S. lawmakers said they would investigate a report that U.S. President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump’s involvement in a real-estate deal with Russia during the 2016 campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- U.S. President Donald Trump said he “never worked for Russia” following reports that the FBI grew so concerned by his actions following the firing of James Comey that they began a counterintelligence investigation into whether he was working on Russia’s behalf, Bloomberg reports. Trump also rejected claims that he took extraordinary steps to keep his discussions with Vladimir Putin secret as “ridiculous," according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Overall, 75 percent of respondents to a Levada Center poll said they believe Russia is a superpower. The number has climbed steadily over the past two decades, from a low of 30 percent in November 2005, according to The Moscow Times.
- A report by the Proekt news outlet highlights discrepancies between data from the Rosstat federal statistics agency and data compiled by countries where Russians emigrate. Rosstat estimates 377,000 Russians left the country in 2017. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security counted six times more Russians arriving in 2017 than Rosstat recorded leaving, The Moscow Times reports.
- Fifty-three percent of respondents to a recent Levada Center poll said they would back the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s cabinet, according to The Moscow Times.
I. U.S. and Russian priorities for the bilateral agenda
Nuclear security and safety:
- Nuclear experts from the U.S., China, Britain and Norway, as well as Czech and Russian contractors, worked together in 2018 to remove highly enriched uranium from a research reactor in the Kaduna region of Nigeria that was increasingly believed to be vulnerable to a terrorist attack. (SCMP, 01.16.19, Defense News, 01.14.19)
North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:
- The White House announced Jan. 18 that President Donald Trump would hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told American ambassadors on Jan. 16 that North Korea has failed to take any substantive steps to give up its nuclear weapons. In the meantime, China and Russia have resumed many economic enterprises with North Korea. (The Washington Post, 01.18.19, New York Times, 01.17.19)
Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:
- When unveiling the new U.S. Missile Defense Review on Jan. 17, U.S. President Donald Trump specifically named Iran and its effort to develop ballistic missiles with ever-increasing ranges. (RFE/RL, 01.17.19)
Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:
- Senior Trump officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from NATO. In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance. (New York Times, 01.15.19)
- At his annual press conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov questioned the legitimacy of the process of changing Macedonia's name to the Republic of North Macedonia, a shift that could enable the former Yugoslav republic to join NATO and the EU. (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
Missile defense:
- When unveiling the new Missile Defense Review (MDR) on Jan. 17, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would deploy 20 new missile interceptors in Alaska. MDR-2019 says that “the United States relies on nuclear deterrence to address the large and more sophisticated Russian and Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities.” The document is also consistent with the priorities of the 2017 National Security Strategy, which said that “enhanced missile defense is not intended to undermine strategic stability or disrupt longstanding strategic relationships with Russia or China.” However, when presenting MDR-2019, Trump proclaimed that “Our goal is simple: to ensure we can detect and destroy any missile launched against us, anywhere, anytime, anyplace.” This kind of rhetoric is wholly inconsistent with the MDR’s description of missile defense being directed solely against “rogue states,” according to experts from Federation of American Scientists, even though Trump did not mention either Russia or China in his speech. (Federation of American Scientists, 01.17.19, RFE/RL, 01.17.19, RFE/RL, 01.17.19, Russia Matters, 01.18.19, Financial Times, 01.17.19)
- The Russian Foreign Ministry described MDR-2019 as proof of “Washington’s desire to ensure uncontested military domination in the world.” It warned that the expansion of the U.S. missile defense system “will inevitably start an arms race in space with the most negative consequences for international security and stability. (AP, 01.18.19)
- MDR-2019 indicates that the United States will look into developing and fielding a variety of new capabilities for detecting and intercepting missiles either immediately before or after launch, including developing a defensive layer of space-based sensors (and potentially interceptors) to assist with launch detection and boost-phase intercept. (Federation of American Scientists, 01.17.19)
- Viktor Bondaryov, the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, said "an additional layer of space-based sensors to detect missiles can be viewed as a component of a policy of increasing tensions. … Under no circumstances should attack weapons be based in space. This is fraught with catastrophe.” (RFE/RL, 01.17.19)
- Missile Defense Review-2019 refers to Russia and China as “potential adversaries.” In contrast, MDR-2010 said the U.S. “seeks to engage Russia and China on missile defense” and noted that “Russia and China are important partners for the future.” (Russia Matters, 01.18.19)
- MDR-2019 commits the Missile Defense Agency to test the SM-3 Block IIA against an ICBM-class target in 2020. The 2018 NDAA had previously mandated that such a test only take place “if technologically feasible.” It now seems that there is sufficient confidence for the test to take place. (Federation of American Scientists, 01.17.19)
- The U.S. Navy will try for the first time to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile in the middle phase of the ICBM's flight with the Navy's SM-3 missile, the Pentagon announced on Jan. 17, 2019. (The National Interest, 01.17.19)
Nuclear arms control:
- After the Jan. 15 meeting in Geneva between Russian and U.S. officials, U.S. Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson said Moscow was refusing to allow proper inspection of a new Russian missile system that Washington says violates the INF Treaty. Thompson said the Russian side only offered a look at the cruise missile system, a so-called static display, which she said would not verify the true range of its warheads. Russia remains "in material breach" of the INF Treaty, she said. Without a deal, a U.S. withdrawal over six months will start from Feb. 2. (Reuters, 01.17.19, RFE/RL, 01.15.19)
- Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Jan. 16 that the U.S. had ignored Moscow’s proposals to allow inspections of the 9M729 missile. Instead, according to Lavrov, Washington demanded that Russia destroy "the rocket, its launchers and all equipment associated with it." Moscow made the offer as a quid pro quo under which it would be allowed to inspect U.S. systems including drones and its missile defense deployments in eastern Europe, diplomats said. “We are ready as before to work on saving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. I hope that the European nations that are most interested in this will also put in the effort to not follow the American position,” Lavrov told his annual press conference on Jan. 16. (Financial Times, 01.16.19, The Moscow Times, 01.16.19, Wall Street Journal, 01.16.19)
- "Russia must come back into compliance," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting at NATO in which U.S. Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson briefed allies on the outcome of the Jan. 15 meeting with Russian diplomats on the INF Treaty. (The Moscow Times, 01.17.19)
- While in Moscow, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Russia to help prevent a new arms race by saving the INF Treaty. Maas also said the INF Treaty was necessary but not sufficient given the emergence of new technologies since the treaty was originally signed. (RFE/RL, 01.18.19)
- Russia has sent a message to U.S. lawmakers accusing Washington of undermining the New START treaty. A provision in that treaty allows the U.S. to develop ways to convert dozens of its B-52H bombers to a nonnuclear role. The U.S. has also reduced the number of launch tubes on its Trident II submarines from 24 to 20. U.S. officials say the arrangements comply with the treaty. But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in late December called the U.S. practices a violation. Russian officials reinforced Ryabkov’s complaint by sending U.S. lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee an 11-page paper in December. (Wall Street Journal, 01.15.19)
- U.S. Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson said New START was not discussed at the Jan. 15 meeting of U.S. and Russian arms control diplomats in Geneva, adding that at the moment the right environment was “not in place” for such talks. (Financial Times, 01.16.19)
- During his annual press conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated suggestions that Moscow would like to preserve New START. (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
- “Naturally, we are not going to turn a blind eye to the deployment of American missiles, which present a direct threat to our security,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “However, Russia, as a responsible and sensible country, has no interest in a new arms race,” Putin said. (The Moscow Times, 01.16.19)
Counter-terrorism:
- "The number of terror attacks [in the world] neared 16,000 in 2014, when terrorist activity reached its peak, but it has averaged 10,000 for two years in a row," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said. (Interfax, 01.15.19)
Conflict in Syria:
- Turkey's president said Jan. 15 that his troops will establish a 20-mile-wide "safe zone" in northern Syria, adding that Turkey would seek logistic and financial assistance from the U.S. and other allies to create the zone. (AP, 01.15.19)
- Parts of Syria that are "currently under U.S. control" must come under the control of the Assad government "after the withdrawal of U.S. troops," Sergey Lavrov told his annual press conference, indicating Moscow opposes U.S. calls for the establishment of a Turkish-controlled "security zone." (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Jan. 23. On Jan. 10, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that there were plans to hold a Turkish-Russian-Iranian summit on Syria in the coming weeks. (TASS, 01.15.19)
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for launching the Syrian constitutional committee as soon as possible in order to start the political settlement process in a telephone conversation with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Jan. 15. (Interfax, 01.15.19)
Cyber security:
- U.S. federal authorities on Jan. 15 filed charges accusing eight people, including individuals from Russia and Ukraine, of hacking into a Securities and Exchange Commission database holding corporate secrets in a scheme that led to at least $4.1 million in illegal trading profits. (The Washington Post, 01.16.19)
- Facebook identified two disinformation campaigns originating from Russia—including one tied to an agency controlled by the Kremlin—that were targeted at users in Europe and Central Asia. The company said on Jan. 17 it had deleted nearly 500 pages and accounts that had posted the misleading messages. (New York Times, 01.17.19)
Elections interference:
- Lawmakers said they would investigate a report that U.S. President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump’s involvement in a real-estate deal with Russia during the 2016 campaign. (Wall Street Journal, 01.18.19)
- The Democratic National Committee said it was targeted by an unsuccessful cyberattack eight days after the 2018 midterm elections—and believes one of the Russian hacking groups that broke into its network during the 2016 presidential campaign was behind the attempted intrusion. (Wall Street Journal, 01.18.19)
- Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani backtracked on Jan. 17 from a surprising assertion he had made a night earlier that left open the possibility that Trump campaign aides might have coordinated with Russia in its 2016 election interference. (New York Times, 01.17.19)
- William Barr, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, sought to reassure the Senate that he would allow Robert Mueller's investigation to finish without political interference. (Financial Times, 01.16.19)
- The law does not require the Justice Department to release a report, which special counsel Robert Mueller will produce, and Mueller has been silent on the issue. (New York Times, 01.17.19)
- Anastasia Vashukevich, a model from Belarus who claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in U.S. President Donald Trump's election, was detained in a Moscow airport Jan. 17 after being deported from Thailand. (The Moscow Times, 01.18.19)
Energy exports:
- Russia has reduced oil output by 30,000 barrels per day relative to October 2018 levels so far in January, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said. Companies estimate they can cut 50,000 barrels per day this month, Novak added, which would amount to 20 percent of Russia’s pledge to trim 228,000 barrels per day as part of its six-month deal with OPEC. (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas believes that even U.S. sanctions would not prevent the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, as Russia could complete construction on its own. (Interfax, 01.18.19)
Bilateral economic ties:
- No significant developments.
Other bilateral issues:
- In the days after U.S. President Donald Trump fired James Comey as FBI director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests. Agents also sought to determine whether Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence. (New York Times, 01.11.19)
- U.S. President Donald Trump said Jan. 14 he “never worked for Russia.” “It’s so ridiculous, these people make it up,” Trump said. (Bloomberg, 01.14.19)
- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CBS News that the notion of U.S. President Donald Trump being a threat to U.S. national security was “ludicrous” and “silly on its face.” (Financial Times, 01.13.19)
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has brushed off the most recent round of media reports suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump may have acted in the interests of Russia, describing the claims as a “conspiracy.” (The Moscow Times, 01.15.19)
- “To be frank, it's getting hard for me to comment on what’s happening in the U.S. regarding the allegations that Trump is a Russian spy. I believe [it reflects] the falling standards for journalism in the American press,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his annual press conference on Jan. 16. (The Moscow Times, 01.16.19)
- Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yury Ushakov derided the notion that U.S. President Donald Trump might have worked for Russian interests. (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
- U.S. President Donald Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials. (The Washington Post, 01.13.19)
- U.S. President Donald Trump said claims that he took extraordinary steps to keep his discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin secret were ridiculous. "I had a conversation like every president does," Trump said. "You sit with the president of various countries. I do it with all countries. I'm not keeping anything under wraps, I couldn't care less." (Wall Street Journal, 01.13.19)
- U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, who now leads the Intelligence Committee as part of the new Democratic House majority, implored his Republican colleagues on Jan. 13 to support his effort to obtain notes or testimony from the interpreter in one of the private meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (New York Times, 01.14.19)
- Asked whether Russia would consider releasing the minutes of Trump's one-on-one negotiations with Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the idea, saying that it would be undiplomatic and that such requests amount to illegitimate meddling in the U.S. president's constitutional right to conduct foreign policy. (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his annual press conference that Russia would reciprocate the possible lifting of any anti-Russian sanctions “very quickly.” (The Moscow Times, 01.16.19)
- In a victory for U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate on Jan. 16 rejected legislation to keep sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, including aluminum firm Rusal. U.S. senators voted 57-42 to end debate on the measure, as 11 of Trump's fellow Republicans broke from party leaders to join Democrats in favor of the resolution. (Reuters, 01.17.19)
- Three U.S. citizens have been selected to control shares relinquished by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska as part of a deal with the U.S. Treasury. (Financial Times, 01.18.19)
- At his annual press conference, Sergei Lavrov repeated Russian assertions that Paul Whelan was caught "red-handed" and was not arrested in order to be used in a potential swap for any Russians held in the West. (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
- The brother of Paul Whelan, the American being held in Russia on an espionage charge, says Irish diplomats have visited him in the Moscow prison where he is being held. (RFE/RL, 01.17.19)
- MIT elected Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg to its board of trustees in 2013, but today you won't find the Russian billionaire identified as a trustee. MIT said that Vekselberg had been "suspended" from the board not long after the Treasury announcement of sanctions against him on April 6. (RFE/RL, 01.14.19)
II. Russia’s domestic news
Politics, economy and energy:
- At least six times more Russians are leaving the country than officially estimated, a comprehensive study conducted by the Proekt news outlet said on Jan. 16. Proekt’s report highlights discrepancies between official data from the Rosstat federal statistics agency and data compiled by countries where Russians emigrate to. Rosstat estimates 377,000 Russians left the country in 2017, the latest period for which figures are available and a six-year record. (The Moscow Times, 01.16.19)
- Fifty-three percent of respondents to a poll published on Jan. 14 by the Levada Center said they would back the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s cabinet. Those figures are up from November 2016, when just one-third of respondents voiced support for the idea. (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
- Overall, 75 percent of respondents to a Levada Center poll said they believe Russia is a superpower. The number has climbed steadily over the past two decades, from a low of 30 percent in November 2005. (The Moscow Times, 01.17.19)
- Russia ranked 59th out of 71 countries in Numbeo’s quality of life rating. (The Moscow Times, 01.15.19)
- More private money left Russia in 2018 than in any year since the Crimean crisis and oil market rout of 2014, but analysts reckon there is not too much to panic about. Over $67 billion flowed out of Russia last year, but as a percentage of Russia’s current account surplus, 2018’s outflow stands at 59 percent, the lowest annual reading since 2010. (Financial Times, 01.18.19)
- Moscow’s Sheremtyevo Airport has become the 10th busiest hub in Europe after a surge in traffic driven by the 2018 football World Cup. (The Moscow Times, 01.17.19)
- A law limiting foreign ownership of media in Russia to 20 percent is legal, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled on Jan. 17. (The Moscow Times, 01.17.19)
- Russia’s Justice Ministry is inspecting renowned human rights Memorial group based on allegations that it illegally acted as a “foreign agent.” (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
- A Chechen court has ordered Russian gas giant Gazprom to write off 9 billion rubles ($135.6 million) of gas debt in the North Caucasus republic this week after prosecutors warned of rising "social tensions." (The Moscow Times, 01.18.19)
Defense and aerospace:
- The Russian Navy is on track to deploy up to 32 of its “Poseidon” thermonuclear drones across four submarines, according to Russian state media. (The National Interest, 01.15.19)
- Russia’s space agency said it has lost control of its only space radio telescope Spektr-R, orbiting Earth in search of outside radio sources. (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
- The pilots of two Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers that collided in Far East Russia have been pulled out of the sea alive. One of the Su-34s crashed and another landed with a failed engine. (The Moscow Times, 01.18.19)
Security, law-enforcement and justice:
- Russia’s Investigative Committee says a gas leak remains the likely cause of a deadly apartment collapse last month in Magnitogorsk after Islamic State \said it had bombed the building. (RFE/RL, 01.18.19)
- In total, there were nine terrorist attacks in Russia in 2018, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told Rossiiskaya Gazeta. The official claimed the level of “terrorist activities” in Russia declined by more than 20 times in the past five years. (Russia Matters, 01.17.19)
- Police are on a manhunt for suspects in an attack on four officers and a civilian in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia. Three other suspects were killed in nearby Dagestan after an attempt to attack traffic police. (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
- Chechen leadership has dismissed a report claiming that two gay men were killed and dozens more have been detained in Russia’s North Caucasus republic. (The Moscow Times, 01.15.19)
- Yury Vasilenko, a person of interest in the murder investigation of ex-State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov, in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in 2017 was reportedly shot and abducted in central Moscow. (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment
Russia’s general foreign policy and relations with “far abroad” countries:
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Tokyo not to expect progress on an agreement over the Southern Kuriles unless Japan first recognizes Russian sovereignty over the long-disputed Pacific island chain. (RFE/RL, 01.14.19)
- “We have heard suggestions that point toward [U.S.] military involvement in Venezuela and suggestions that the United States will not recognize Nicolas Maduro as the President of Venezuela but as a representative of parliament. All this is very alarming,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his annual press conference. (The Moscow Times, 01.16.19)
- Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Jan. 16 that Russia does not support an investigation into a disputed presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the Financial Times published data that suggested the result may be fraudulent. (Financial Times, 01.16.19)
- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he’s seeking loans from Russia on a visit to Moscow as protests erupted across his country Jan. 14, leaving 24 people injured and five possibly dead. (Bloomberg, 01.15.19)
- Alrosa, one of the world’s top diamond miners, is returning to Zimbabwe after a more than two-year break as it expands outside Russia. (Bloomberg, 01.15.19)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Moscow's ambassador to the Central African Republic, where three Russian journalists were killed last summer under suspicious circumstances. (RFE/RL, 01.15.19)
- EU ambassadors reportedly agreed on Jan. 16 to impose sanctions on two Russian nationals suspected of poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter last year, along with sanctions on two other Russians and five Syrians accused of chemical weapons attacks. (Reuters, 01.17.19)
- Serbia's pro-Western President Aleksandar Vucic staged a lavish welcome for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Jan. 17. During the one-day visit, Putin awarded Vucic with a Russian state honor, the Order of Aleksandr Nevsky. (Reuters, 01.17.19, RFE/RL, 01.18.19)
- “They say constantly that Russia is rubbing its hands with glee [over Brexit]—this is not true,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his annual press conference. (The Moscow Times, 01.16.19)
- The bankruptcy of Yukos Oil in Russia will not be recognized in the Netherlands, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 18, upholding a decision in 2017 by a lower appeals court. (Reuters, 01.18.19)
- Billionaire Roman Abramovich invested around £69.1 million ($88 million) into his Chelsea Football Club last season, when it made a record profit of £62 million after taxes. (The Moscow Times, 01.14.19)
- World Anti-Doping Agency inspectors have recovered doping data from a discredited Moscow laboratory, WADA said on Jan. 17—a condition of its controversial decision in September to restore the accreditation of Russia's anti-doping agency. (Reuters, 01.18.19)
China:
- Rosatom's TVEL and CNLY, a subsidiary of China's CNNC corporation, signed a contract for supply of fuel for China's CFR-600 fast neutron reactor. (IPFM, 01.10.19)
- Russia has overtaken China to become the world’s fifth largest official sector holder of gold as Western sanctions drove buying by its central bank to record highs in 2018, its data showed on Jan. 18. The central bank bought 8.8 million troy ounces last year, it said, beating a record 7.2 million ounces set in 2017. (Reuters, 01.18.19)
Ukraine:
- Prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller have intensively scrutinized Paul Manafort's activities after U.S. President Donald Trump's election with former Russian aide Konstantin Kilimnik and others, a Jan. 15 court filing showed. According to bungled redactions in the defense team's filing, Mueller has accused Manafort of lying about his contacts with Kilimnik, including discussions Manafort and Kilimnik had about a Ukrainian peace plan during the 2016 campaign; a meeting between the pair while they were in Madrid; and Kilimnik's alleged role in the witness tampering effort to which Manafort pleaded guilty. (The Washington Post, 01.15.19)
- U.S. law firm Meagher & Flom LLP has agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle claims by the Department of Justice that it violated lobbying laws by failing to register work it did for Ukraine’s government in conjunction with Paul Manafort. (RFE/RL, 01.18.19)
- A Ukrainian serviceman was killed and two more were wounded following fire by separatist forces in the east of Ukraine on Jan. 14. (Interfax, 01.14.19)
- More than 160 people were killed and over 300 were wounded last year in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic under shelling from Ukrainian troops. (TASS, 01.14.19)
- A surveillance drone operated by monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in eastern Ukraine has been shot down near the government-controlled village of Popasna in the Luhansk region. (RFE/RL, 01.12.19)
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Jan. 18 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for German experts to monitor the Kerch Strait near Crimea. (Reuters, 01.18.19)
- A court in Moscow on Jan. 15 ordered the first four of 24 Ukrainian sailors seized by Russia off the coast of Crimea last year to be held in pre-trial detention until April 24. (Reuters, 01.15.19)
- The Ukrainian parliament has adopted a bill setting the procedure for changing the affiliation of religious communities in the country. Under the proposed legislation, religious congregations will be able to vote to choose what teaching or branch they belong to. About 70 parishes of the former Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate have come under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 01.17.19, Interfax, 01.15.19)
- Polish man Michal Prokopowicz, accused of involvement in the firebombing of a Hungarian cultural center in western Ukraine last year, says he received instructions on the attack from German journalist Manuel Ochsenreiter, who has worked as a consultant for a German parliament deputy with the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. (RFE/RL, 01.14.19)
- Russia's Federal Security Service says it has deported a man it says is an agent of the Ukrainian Security Service who planned to collect information about Russian military forces in Crimea. (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:
- Turkmen authorities have launched a campaign to register army reservists—nearly all men under 50—amid concerns about militants in neighboring Afghanistan. (RFE/RL, 01.15.19)
- Hundreds of activists have gathered in the center of the Kyrgyz capital to protest against what they called the increasing number of Chinese migrants in Kyrgyzstan. (RFE/RL, 01.17.19)
- The decision to build the first commercial nuclear reactor is the latest move to develop the Uzbek economy. The long-mooted project will involve Russian help that Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said provides “a strong impulse for co-operation between the states.” (Financial Times, 01.14.19)
- The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Jan. 16 that authorities in Moldova should "take all necessary measures" in the run-up to the Feb. 24 parliamentary elections and guarantee transparent results that reflect "the will of Moldovan voters." (RFE/RL, 01.16.19)
- Nikol Pashinian has been appointed to a second term as prime minister of Armenia after his political alliance scored a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections. (RFE/RL, 01.14.19)
- The first online cryptocurrency exchange—based on blockchain technology—has been launched in Belarus. (RFE/RL, 01.15.19)